Save the Blue Heart of Europe - A campaign for the protection of Balkan Rivers
Webinars
UPCOMING WEBINARS
.png)
WEBINAR: Komarnica: The Wild That Remains
Exclusive Pre-Screening & Live Q&A
12 March 2026
On 14 March, the International Day of Action for Rivers, the world can watch the premiere of “KOMARNICA: The Wild That Remains.” This film is more than a documentary; it is a tribute to one of Europe’s last wild river canyons and a call to keep its heart beating.
Want to be among the first to see it? Join us on 12 March for an exclusive pre-screening webinar followed by a deep-dive discussion with the team leading the campaign.
Why join the webinar?
- Watch the full film before the official YouTube premiere.
- Hear from the scientists who documented the canyon’s unique biodiversity.
- Get a filmmaker’s perspective on capturing one of the most rugged terrains in the Balkans.
- Join the activists from the Save Komarnica campaign to learn how you can help protect Montenegro’s natural heritage.
Register for the webinar here!
Produced as part of the Save the Blue Heart of Europe campaign by WildReach Productions, in partnership with EuroNatur, Taxon Expeditions, Montenegrin Ecologists Society, and the Save Komarnica movement. Check out the Save Komarnica campaign website for more details: savekomarnica.com
PAST WEBINARS
Rights of nature in Europe, should our rivers have rights too?
Tune in to this critical conversation about the potential and challenges of granting legal rights to rivers in Europe. Across Europe, rivers are being dammed, diverted, polluted, and treated as expendable infrastructure — despite existing environmental laws meant to protect them. At the same time, a powerful global movement is gaining momentum: the Rights of Nature, which challenges the idea that nature is merely property and instead recognises rivers and ecosystems as rights-bearing entities with their own legal standing. While Indigenous communities in the Americas and New Zealand have led the way in securing legal rights for rivers, Europe has been slow to follow. In regions such as the Western Balkans, where rivers are under intense pressure from hydropower and extractive projects, rights-based approaches to river protection are still only beginning to be explored. This raises an urgent question: are Europe’s existing legal tools enough—or is it time to rethink how we defend our rivers? This webinar brings together leading advocates and legal experts to critically examine whether the Rights of Nature can become a meaningful tool for river protection in Europe.
Weren't able to join? No problem - watch the recording below!
Latest findings from the Sarantaporos Science Week
In 2024, a Science Week was held on the Sarantaporos River in Greece. The one-week event featured a diverse team of around 50 Greek and international scientists. Finally, we are ready to share some of the amazing results gathered! This webinar focused on the latest updates on the Save the Blue Heart of Europe Campaign, delved into the results of the Sarantaporos Science Week 2024 and explored how scientific arguments contribute to the protection of highly intact river systems. This online event was realised in collaboration with MedINA.
Weren't able to join? No problem - watch the recording below!
Neretva Biodiversity
In 2022 and 2023, two Science Weeks were held on the Upper Neretva River. The two one-week events resulted in two attractive Preliminary Reports in accessible language and a series of scientific papers. The results were astonishing. More than 2000 species were found in two weeks, nine species new to science (!), round 80 species strictly protected in Republika Srpska, cca. 60 rare and endangered plant species in BiH and 25 plant species endemic to the Balkans. Moreover, new important insights into the functioning of a pristine river – something we already lost in most of Europe. In this webinar, we presented the results of two Neretva Science Weeks, discussed about the impacts of these events on the future of Neretva and revealed our plans for the future.
Weren't able to join? No problem - watch the recording below!
Neretva Science Week 2022 Results
The Neretva Science Week that took place from June 28th to July 5th, 2022 brought 50 scientists from around Europe to research the highly intact Neretva River in Bosnia and Herzegovina. They collected data aimed at characterising this highly threatened riverine ecosystem. In this webinar, scientists presented the main findings, that all argue for the protection of this unique river system. In addition, we discussed the positive impact these results already have and what we expect from the Scientists for Balkan Rivers Network in the coming year, including plans for a second Neretva Science Week.
Weren't able to join? No problem - watch the recording below!
Join us for our next webinar on November 4th,2021 (3-5 pm CEWT) to discuss with river activists and experts from the Balkans and beyond about social impacts of hydropower, their resistance and the lessons learned from successful river activism.
For years, we have highlighted how the ongoing hydropower boom is destroying Europe’s last free-flowing rivers and riverine ecosystems in the Western Balkans. However, the fight for free-flowing rivers is also about people, the way hydropower affects them and their relentless efforts to halt dam plans.
In our upcoming webinar we will discuss the social dimensions of hydropower. We will talk about the impacts of hydropower projects on communities, their economies, livelihoods, and culture. We will hear from activists who have dedicated their lives and energy to fighting destructive dams: what motivates them, which have been their most successful strategies, how they have dealt with major obstacles to their activism, and how we can collectively strengthen our fight against new hydropower plants.
Find here infos about the speakers
Legal Tools to Protect Rivers from Hydropower Development!
In our next webinar on Thursday, 29 April (14-16:00), we will be presenting our Legal Toolkit (read online or download the PDF) for the protection of rivers. Together with our partners from Wetlands International Europe and ClientEarth, we invite you to share and discuss your experiences and questions regarding legal steps taken against hydropower projects! REGISTER HERE
To make way for the rapid development of hydropower, mandatory legal procedures and environmental impact assessment provisions are often sidestepped or not properly implemented. International laws and and EU environmental regulations have therefore become valuable tools in preventing the construction of new hydropower projects.
The webinar will be the first in a series of events under the Lawyers for Rivers initiative, conceived in the context of the "Save the Blue Heart of Europe" campaign and launched together with EuroNatur, Riverwatch, GEOTA, Wetlands International Europe and WWF Adria. Lawyers for Rivers aims to enable capacity building and exchange on experiences with legal activism for river protection.
The Beauties and the Beasts - Balkan Rivers at risk
On March 4th, 2021, we held our first webinar, followed live by 350 people via Zoom Webinar and Facebook live stream.
Weren't able to join? No problem - watch the recording below!
In this webinar we gave an overview about the river jewels of Europe, the threat they are facing and our campaign to save them. We explained how we try to achieve the impossible: to save the Balkan rivers from a dam tsunami of more than 3,400 hydropower projects.
The webinar featured Ulrich Eichelmann, Riverwatch and Anntette Spangenberg, EuroNatur giving an overview about our strategies and tools (minute 06:17), representatives of our legal defence team Maja Pravuljac (Client Earth) and Nina Kresevljakovic (Aarhus Center BiH) explaining how we defend Balkan rivers in court (min 35:51), Ulrich Eichelmann outlining our Artists for Balkan Rivers project (min 1:11:00), and Olsi Nika, EcoAlbania presenting the Vjosa case and our efforts to establish Europe’s first Wild River National Park (min 1:28:00). We also had a guest speaker from Patagonia - Environmental Action & Initiatives Director Beth Thoren - talk about the brand new short film "Vjosa Forever" (min 01:17:00).
